Chapter 167

Chapter 167: Chapter 166: "Brother Hu, what do you mean?" asked the muscular subordinate standing in front of Ah Hu.

Ah Hu took a puff of his cigar and couldn’t help but frown. He knew that the assassination of Ye Tianchen had to succeed; failure was not an option. Should they fail, even Xuanyuan Teng might take his life, for no one who had been marked as an enemy by Xuanyuan Teng had ever lived to tell the tale.

Yet, Ah Hu’s investigation had profoundly shocked him. Ye Tianchen, once an obscure figure in the Capital City—or infamous, known only for being the butt of jokes—had become terrifyingly formidable, especially after wiping out the Qin family and the Luo family. It sounded like a tall tale, enough to shock anyone who heard it.

What Ah Hu feared the most was Ye Tianchen’s martial prowess. All signs indicated that Ye Tianchen possessed a frightening level of ability, and mere handfuls of men, even dozens, would absolutely fail to kill him. Therefore, Ah Hu was ready to mobilize three hundred people this time.

Three hundred people could drown Ye Tianchen with their spit or beat him to death with their fists—or so Ah Hu believed. But, to ensure the absolute success of killing Ye Tianchen, he had no choice but to do so.

After the incidents with the Qin and Luo families, the Capital City remained calm, as though the high officials had mutually decided to keep silent, and major media outlets did the same, preventing many ordinary citizens from learning about these earth-shattering events.

Anyone with a brain could guess that Ye Tianchen must have connections within the national elite. Without such influence at the top, the affairs would have already caused a national uproar.

"Gather all three hundred elite brothers under our command. Have each person sharpen their machetes, and forget about using guns. Tomorrow night, we’ll chop Ye Tianchen into mincemeat!" Ah Hu suggested after some thought.

"Brother Hu, why don’t we give the brothers guns instead? It would be more of a guarantee!"

"No, in China, drawing a knife and firing a gun are two different matters. Besides, this is the Capital City. If guns are used, Xuanyuan Teng might not escape complicity. If things blow up, he will definitely make us the scapegoats!" Ah Hu said with a furrowed brow.

At the end of the day, the relationship between Ah Hu and Xuanyuan Teng was one of mutual use. Ah Hu, under the protection of the Xuanyuan family, rarely faced trouble, and Xuanyuan Teng took advantage of Ah Hu’s ruthlessness to get things done, to handle underworld matters. After all, these major families presented themselves as charitable and supportive in public, seemingly serving the nation and the people, while unspeakable misdeeds were committed in secret.

So, in this relationship of mutual use, once the other party deems you worthless, especially in the face of major issues, they will surely consider eliminating you. Ah Hu was no fool. Having served Xuanyuan Teng for years, he had gathered ample incriminating evidence against him. If the day came when they turned against each other, Ah Hu would show no mercy.

"Got it, Brother Hu. I’ll take care of it right away!" said the muscular subordinate.

"Good, keep tabs on Ye Tianchen. Once the brothers are assembled, stand by for orders. Seize any opportunity to take out Ye Tianchen!" Ah Hu said harshly.

"Yes!"

As his subordinate left the private room, Ah Hu leaned back on the sofa and took a drag from his cigar. Taking out Ye Tianchen was the most challenging task he had faced since he started his underworld career. If he didn’t kill Ye Tianchen, Xuanyuan Teng wouldn’t let him off the hook. However, the kill was far from simple, and failure could mean his own death.

After a moment, Ah Hu motioned with his hand, and three seductive women wearing black stockings quickly moved to his side. Two massaged him from both sides, while the third spread her legs and sat on Ah Hu’s lap, grinding against him and providing pleasure.

At this very moment, Ye Tianchen, oblivious to the life-and-death crisis about to befall him the next night, sat cross-legged on the bed, beginning to temper his superpower. It had been many days since he last practiced, and time was of the essence. Training his physical body was his most urgent and desired area of enhancement. Although he was at a King-level Superpower Realm, he dared not break through. He knew that the difference between King-level and Emperor-level Superpower Realms was vast, incomparable.

Superpower users, just in terms of realm alone, each time one ascends a realm, the increase in strength is as different as heaven and earth, like the difference between a child and an adult. Especially with the breakthroughs in superpower realms, the Monarch Level, King-level, Emperor-level, Divine Level, Emperor Level—the highest five major realms—even the difference of a minor realm could be so vast that they cannot be mentioned in the same breath. For example, each major realm is further divided into three minor realms, and someone at the intermediate realm of the King-level can instantly kill someone at the Basic realm of King-level.

In the apocalypse, Ye Tianchen used to be a Divine-level superpower expert. He could be said to possess extremely powerful strength, able to burst a mountain with one punch and sever a river with a palm. However, when facing Emperor-level experts, he could be killed with just a poke, an absolutely no exaggeration, not being in the same realm at all.

Ye Tianchen sat cross-legged on the bed, slowly stimulating the King-level Strange Energy within his body and repeatedly cleansing every inch of his bones and meridians, striving to make them more powerful. This was the only way for now. All along, Ye Tianchen had wanted to practice the Absolute Skills and Internal Cultivation Methods of the Ancient Martial Sects, which could make his physical body incredibly strong. If he could combine such inner strength with superpower, he would truly become even more powerful than he was in the apocalypse.

Originally, after being reborn in this life, Ye Tianchen thought that the superpower users and experts from the Ancient Martial Sects, no matter how strong, would have their limits. However, as he journeyed, he encountered many experts, especially after meeting Hei Mian, an expert of Heavenly Gang Level. Ye Tianchen deeply realized that there are still many powerful experts in this life. If there is white, there must be black; if there are experts like Bai Mian, there certainly are more in the dark. So, Ye Tianchen strives to make himself even stronger.

Up to now, the strongest expert Ye Tianchen has encountered is Hei Mian, a Heavenly Gang Level expert with extremely powerful abilities. Even though he never confronted Hei Mian directly, Ye Tianchen could feel the aura emanating from Hei Mian. If it came to a full-force battle, he might not necessarily be Hei Mian’s match—he could at best fight to a draw.

The most troubling issue for Ye Tianchen’s cultivation now, besides tempering a strong physical body, was the cultivation of Inner Strength. Additionally, Ye Tianchen noticed that whenever he fought powerful enemies in the past, his superpower would boil and show signs of breakthrough. In his recent battles, like the one against Gudu Ang—an opponent not weak by any means—Ye Tianchen fought with all his might and only barely managed to injure him, scraping a half-step victory.

After fighting with Gudu Ang, Ye Tianchen noticed that the superpower within his body just fluctuated normally and did not show any signs of breakthrough. It seems he is about to reach the most challenging step. In the future, every step forward in the breakthrough will be extremely difficult.

Once a Divine Level superpower expert in the apocalypse, Ye Tianchen naturally knows that many people, after reaching a certain Superpower Realm, find it difficult to advance. Besides the increase in superpower, the most important thing is enlightenment—the understanding of nature, the understanding of oneself. This is a very mystical concept, and everyone’s enlightenment is different, resulting in varying speeds of breakthroughs and different secret techniques mastered.

"It seems I really need to find an opportunity to visit the Shaolin Temple. I wonder if the Yijin Jing still exists in this life. If it does, I must get my hands on it!" Ye Tianchen murmured to himself.

After practicing for more than two hours, cold sweat broke out on Ye Tianchen’s forehead. The moment he opened his eyes, a trace of blue light flashed within them—the color of the superpower energy of the King-level Superpower Realm.

After thinking about it, Ye Tianchen guessed that Cang Lang might not be asleep yet. He took out his cell phone and dialed Cang Lang’s number, which rang about a dozen times before being answered. It seemed Cang Lang was really asleep and had been woken up abruptly by Ye Tianchen’s call.

"Hello, who is this..." Cang Lang yawned as he spoke on the phone.

"It’s me, Brother Cang Lang. Stop fooling around; I have some important matters to discuss with you..." Ye Tianchen said loudly into the phone.

"Your thoughts are highly abnormal, kid. Spit it out, what’s the matter!" Cang Lang said irritably.

"Here’s the thing, I’m very interested in superpower users. So, I was hoping you could show me all the information you have on superpower users, both our own and international. I want to see it all!" Ye Tianchen hurriedly said.

"That’s not possible. These are national top-secret files; even I am not privy to them, so how could I get them for you!" Cang Lang said, exasperated.

Ye Tianchen knew that in this life, superpower users and experts from Ancient Martial Sects were beyond ordinary people, even many ordinary people didn’t know they existed, so the information about these individuals was absolutely confidential, not accessible to the general public. That’s why Ye Tianchen turned to Cang Lang—an army man and subordinate of Elder Yang—as he might have a way to access those files, more than Ye Tianchen himself could.

"Is that so? Then I’ll have to call Elder Yang and say I need cooperation for a mission, and you, Brother Cang Lang, are not being cooperative. I can’t do my job!" Ye Tianchen pretended to sound very disappointed.

(To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)